An online poster for ‘Takeshima Day’ which reads ‘Takeshima is Japanese Territory’ [right] and ‘February 22 is Takeshima Day’ [left].

The Japanese government has angered Korea over its official endorsement of ‘Takeshima Day’ (February 22), on which ceremonies were held celebrating the disputed territory of the Liancourt Rocks (‘Takeshima’ in Japanese; ‘Dokdo’ in Korea) as Japanese territory.

The Korean government reacted angrily to the news that the Japanese government would send ministerial aids to the celebrations in Shimane Prefecture, while Korean citizens took to the streets of Seoul to protest.

Netizen responses are typically dismissive of Korean anger at ‘Takeshima Day’, with many blaming it on the peculiarly Korean psychological state of Hwabyeong

The Chinese state media outlet China Radio International reported that there had been strong voices of discontent at the fact that senior Japanese government officials had attended a ceremony to mark ‘Takeshima Day’, which was held in Japan on February 22.

The article stated that when it was conveyed that the Japanese government would send a cabinet ministerial aid to attend a ‘Takeshima Day’ ceremony, ‘the act angered Korea’.

Cho Taeyeon, press secretary at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a press conference on February 22 that, ‘This is deplorable’, and warned that ‘if a central government bureaucrat attends the ceremony, then we will take appropriate measures.’

Furthermore, the article stated that ‘Even at a grassroots level, various activities had been held in Korea to call attention to the sovereignty of Dokdo’ and reported that that 323 university students who were members of the ‘Dokdo Academy’ went to Dokdo on the afternoon of February 21 and read aloud a resolution demanding the cancellation of the ceremonies in Japan, while members of the ‘Alliance of the Korean Patriotic Citizens’ Movement’ had carried out protests in Seoul on the morning of the same day, with those responsible demonstrating their conviction by shaving their heads.

If he does end up dismembered and decapitated, you’re going to feel quite guilty…

Jahar

That’s a rather harsh reaction.

chucky3176

North Korea is not just South Korea’s worry. Japanese officials, as reported yesterday, have estimated that if the North Korean nuclear missile hits Tokyo, 1.5 million people will perish.

Is that still funny?

iliketowritearticles

Is it still funny? Yeah. If north korea attacks , the first country that will get affected are south korea or the US. After that the UN will most likely take north korea down before it gets out of hand.

A Gawd Dang Mongolian

No, as of late, the only thing the UN does is impose harsh sanctions, which is basically a slap on the wrist for North Korea’s isolated military economy.

U.S has its hands tied until China comes to a decision to support or go against the North, because that will be the difference between a quick annexation, and a long bloody war.

chucky3176

China and Russia, in their meeting, have already said in their combined statement, military actions or any UN pressure on North Korea for that matter, is not welcome.

Hongwu Emperor

This proves that Japan’s main concern should be DPRK, not ROK ;D
At least ROK dont wish to make an titanic boom over Dongjing right?

Kevin Miles

To be honest governments love these kinds of disputes. The sort of conflicts which will never lead to war and yet can still be used to distract people away from domestic problems.
Just see how successful it has been for the argentines or the Chinese.

chucky3176

As for the Korean protest show in front of Japanese embassy, it was more
of a relaxed protest affair with singing and play performances. It
involved far less people and was far more civilized than the crowd of
Japanese mob, with rising flags marching through Shin Okabu, calling on
“death to Koreans” – which happens at least five times a month for the
last two years.

Butsu

There’s a fair share of obnoxious Korean protesters too. They put the megaphone in my ear and three other people decided it was good to surround me and give me the same pamphlet. Not to say that I support people going around saying “Death to Koreans”. Just to put it into perspective and say that they’re no saints on either sides.

Sillian

It seems those anti-Korea Japanese protesters harass random civilians who get in their way on a regular basis whereas anti-Japan Korean protesters target political figures or entities upon political events.

chucky3176

Correct. The Korean protests were in front of Japanese embassy or in front of Japanese political figures, so they are political statements. Where as the anti Korea protests are in front of people who had nothing to do with anything, therefore they are merely hate protests. That would be like Koreans protesting marching through Myongdong in middle of Seoul telling all the Japanese tourist people to get out of Korea.

Butsu

Yeah Sillian I’ve seen that too. But I was actually talking about Koreans who (seemed to have lived her for some time, there’s never young people). They were standing infront of a Yodobashi (dep. store with a lot of electronics etc), they kept getting into peoples faces and being generally rude.

Sillian

What type of pamphlets were they handing out? I was actually talking about ‘threatening’ civilians in my comment.

Butsu

It was about comfort women. And they didn’t just hand them out, they were following people, surrounding them and kept harassing. Then running around with the megaphones too. Since the police were there I guess it was all legit though. I understand wanting other people to open their eyes for something maybe, but don’t really understand why you need to be an ass about it (this goes both ways), with their actions everyone just tried to shun them.

dim mak

That’s a bit out of context
The Japanese consider Koreans in Japan synonymous with a political force

And I’d say they’re right

The zainichi Koreans have got to be the most politicized fifth column I’ve ever seen

Would Koreans react differently if a million or so Japanese did the same in their country?

Even amongst nationalistic overseas Chinese at least we make a pretense of caring about our host country

So from a purely ethnic nationalist standpoint the Korean behavior is actually understandable, but so is the Japanese reaction

chucky3176

Those are North Koreans loyal to Pyongyang. It’s Japan’s problem if they allow such organizations that are illegal in South Korea, to exist. But most of them were the result of Japanese colonial legacy. They were brought to Japan to work for the Japanese war machine in horrid slave like conditions. It’s Japan’s own doing.

Sillian

They can protest in front of the Korean embassy or any other Korean political organizations. But they choose to threaten random civilians including their own Japanese citizens and interfere with their commercial activities on a regular basis. I simply pointed this out.

dim mak

Fair enough

some_guy

Interesting. Everyone keeps saying how safe it is to be in Japan, but I think these protests really show how incredibly uncivilized some parts of Japan are. I’ve already had a bad suspicion of how xenophobic Japan is, but thanks to Japancrush, I’m now more than positive that Japan has a rising nationalism problem.

that’s a pretty insensitive not to mention unclever thing to ask – is there a Japanese version of Comfort Women? The reason why not is the reason why it is disrespectful to put Koreans and Japanese on equal footing. One invaded the other. It was not a two way street.

dim mak

That only makes sense if you assume the island was Korean to begin with

The dispute exists because its prior ownership is debatable
Otherwise they would’ve just returned it with the other colonial lands or kept it as part of their own land

oh wait
>cleo

Cleo

They’re really callous and unremorseful – these are the children raised by the peace-loving, postwar Japan. Haruki Murakami, my foot.

Koreans should just put the clip of Shane in Walking Dead’s “Pretty Much Dead Already” episode where he demands, “if it’s dead, why is it still coming?” because EVERYBODY knows that Japan is waging war.

The truth will set the Koreans free. They are frustrated by the ostrich behavior of the world press.

Thou Vexed

Something an engineer friend of mine who has worked in Japan and Korea told me is that although Koreans have less layers of formal etiquette, you can make friends more easily with them, but it’s a lot harder to form a real friendship with a Japanese as they’ve got this almost inbuilt insularity to foreigners.

Cleo

I know what it feels like when gangsters covet and inch in ever closer and treat theft like it is a fait accompli. I know what the Koreans are agonizing over. I feel their tragedy and feel very sorry for what Japan is putting you through.

yum gung

Cleo

I wouldn’t use fire illness so cavalierly if I were Japanese – because it stems from being the victim of injustice – you are basically agreeing that the Koreans have a reason to be angry

Cleo

a murdered man’s widow can sigh angrily and loudly in the privacy of her own home only when her children are in earshot as her only outlet of aggression upon people who will never retaliate against it for More than Twenty Years – how much angry sighing and collateral damage is going in Korean homes because of Japan?

William

There’s a historic significance to the date of Feb 22. which can anger Koreans even more because the date has ties to the Japanese colonialism/occupation. That’s real insensitivity regarding the larger issue of Imperial Japan’s wrongdoings. Its one thing to have Takeshima Day but it opens up another can of worms to this dispute by having it on Feb 22.

“In 1905, Japan proclaimed Korea its protectorate, formally annexing it in 1910 and ruling it until the end of the Second World War. On February 22, 1905, Shimane Prefecture announced Public Notice No. 40, naming Liancourt Island, Takeshima, and placing it under Japanese jurisdiction. Since Korea was a colony of Japan, the former had no say in the matter. In fact, Korea learned of the incorporation in March 1906, one year after the measure was taken, when county master Shim Heung-taek was notified of the event and immediately reported it to the central government.”